


Kind, Enduring, Unsubjected

by voleuse



Category: Selfie (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28203009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: I am constant as various, not marble-hearted but your own true love.Meeting someone halfway isn't what Henry had expected.
Relationships: Eliza Dooley/Henry Higgs
Comments: 16
Kudos: 53
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Kind, Enduring, Unsubjected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AndreaLyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/gifts).



> Post-series.

Eliza didn't realize Freddy had dumped her until she got back from her new niece. He had offered to go with her, to meet her family. He probably would have taken a simple _no_ with grace, but when Eliza looked at her texts, what she had actually said was, _I don't want you to meet them_. With no emojis at all.

He hadn't texted her back. At the time, she figured maybe it was just a bad signal, and then family took up enough time that she didn't notice as much. (Eliza had Henry Facetime in to meet her niece--he was much better at funny faces than she would have expected.) 

He didn't reply to her _I'm back_ message for long enough that she actually logged onto Facebook.

His relationship status was _It's Complicated_.

***

Henry found her sitting in her empty bathtub, fully clothed, with a bottle of Pinot in hand. "This can't be healthy," he observed.

"Makes the clean-up easier," Eliza said before taking another swig. "How'd you get in here?"

"You've got to start locking your door," Henry replied. "What's going on? You just texted me twelve crying emojis and the poop thing."

Eliza slumped further into the tub. "Freddy dumped me."

"Oh." Henry seemed to think it over. "That sucks."

"It is so even beyond suckage," Eliza says.

Henry settled on the tiles and gently tugged the bottle out of Eliza's hand. "Okay."

***

Eliza considered doing a "Living My Best Life" week to counteract the breakup blahs. Then again, that could look like overcompensating. Eliza liked being known as extra, but she didn't want people to think she was _extra_.

She claimed a vacation day and went to the spa instead.

***

Normally Eliza wouldn't bother to invite Henry to the club, since he went to bed at 9 PM after drinking chamomile tea, she assumed. Or maybe cocoa? Anyway, he was an old man with a curfew, but she was pretty sure he couldn't resist a midnight mixer at the Natural History Museum.

Indeed, he could not.

When Eliza arrived at the museum, she found him awkwardly standing next to the bar, chatting with the bartender about the best kind of ice. 

"Henry!" Eliza said. She winked at the bartender before squinting at her nametag. "Shelley! I am so sorry about him." The bartender chuckled as she dragged a protesting Henry off. "I thought I told you not to dress like it's a work thing."

"What?" Henry looked down. "This is my fun bowtie." They halted in front of model polar bear wearing Oakleys and Sean John hoodie. 

"Are they looking?" she asked.

"Who--"

Eliza hopped onto the bear's dais and duck-faced next to the bear. "That guard," she responded, then fluffed her faux snow leopard and took another shot.

"Uh." Henry craned his neck. "Not yet. Not yet. Eli--"

"Okay, now." She hopped down and pulled his arms into a defensive posture before skipping back two steps. "Try to look terrified."

The guard wandered over. "Want me to take one of you two?"

Eliza hopped. "Totes."

Henry's hands were still up, yet he unsuccessfully blocked Eliza when she slammed into him, looping her arms around his neck and putting on her best _Please save me from the vampire_ face.

"Cute," the guard said. He handed the phone back to Eliza. 

She scrolled through the handful of shots the guard had taken. "Definitely this one," she said, letting Henry get a glimpse of it before she posted. She looked ridiculous and Henry was staring down at her with a look like--

"Please don't tag me in that," Henry said.

Eliza rolled her eyes. "Fine, #HHiggity. Remain a mystery."

***

"Why did I let you drag me out here?" Henry said. He eyed the room full of Lululemon-clad influencers. "I'm not exactly fit for the _Mommy and Me_ crowd."

Eliza snorted. "And you think I am?" She fake-cooed at some woman's toddler before sidling away. " _Mommy and Me_ is the premier organization for bougie upper-middle-class parents in the 48 contiguous states."

Henry frowned. "What about--"

"It's a shipping thing," she said. "Anyway, if we want the diaper cream to go viral, we need to win over at least 237 of the attendants."

"That's very specific," Henry said. "Still, I don't see why you need me here."

"One," Eliza said, "I sell to doctors. _You_ sell to the public. And two--"

An official photographer popped up. "Smile!"

Henry's smile was strained, but Eliza beamed at the camera without even blinking. 

The photographer looked at the shot then nodded. "You two are a cute couple," he said.

Henry coughed. "We aren't--"

"--used to it yet." Eliza stroked her hand down one of Henry's lapels. "We're still in our honeymoon phase."

The photographer took their names ("no no no no" Henry murmured under his breath) and then sauntered off to a booth selling guaranteed allergen-free balloons. 

"Eliza!" Henry hissed. "You didn't tell me you told them--"

"They also have a bit of a diversity issue," she muttered. "Try to look more smitten, would you?"

Henry sighed. 

The photo ended up on the front page of the _Mommy and Me_ conference website.

***

Eliza was gone for the week to a convention for pharmaceutical reps that, as far as Henry could tell, mostly consisted of experiencing kickbacks then figuring out how to pretend they weren't kickbacks. Sam had asked her to take his son-in-law and a couple of interns along, though, so Henry was only 35% worried he'd end up bailing her out from a Tampa local lock-up.

It had been three days already when Henry looked at his phone and saw that **Jenny Higgs (Mother)** was calling him. He set his remote control down. "Hey, Mom."

"Why is your girlfriend at an alligator farm?" she asked.

He blinked. "My what? At a what?"

"The tall girl with the red hair," she replied. "She is posting pictures of herself throwing chickens at alligators."

"Eliza's at a convention in Florida," Henry said. "And she's not my girlfriend."

"Not according to Instagram," his mother said. "Do you have any idea how many pictures you two are in together?"

"Uh." He tried to mentally count, but given Eliza always had her phone at the ready-- "Probably a lot."

"When am I going to meet her?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

" _Henry_."

He knew that tone. "Next time you visit me?"

"Good."

***

Same museum, different event. Specifically, a benefit reception to which Henry had purchased tickets using the bonus he had earned from the new diaper cream campaign.

Somehow, as usual, Eliza had ended up being his plus one. ("Next time, I buy the tickets and you're the plus one," she had noted.) He broke out his seldom-worm tux for the dinner. When he picked up Eliza, he was, as usual, dumbstruck at her take on "demure but still a total thirst trap." 

Henry returned to find Eliza in front of the same polar bear, though it had been returned to its former dignity. "I miss the sunglasses," Henry noted.

Eliza, to her credit, drank her glass in two gulps instead of one. In the pause, Henry eyed the drape of her gown: a delicate gold, crimped in the front and adorned with (what he hoped was) an impressive collar of a necklace to match her earrings. "You borrowed this from Brynn?"

She shook her head. "I figured since we'd keep going to these," she dropped her voice slightly, "utter snoozefests, I should have a few old lady gowns in my closet."

"Right." His phone buzzed in his pocket. Henry took it out. **Jenny Higgs (Mother)**.

Eliza huffed. "The deal was no phones!"

"No phone for you," Henry said. He answered the phone as she pouted. "Hey, Mom. No. Yes. The 6:35 flight. Got it."

He hadn't even hung up before Eliza plucked the phone from his hand and pulled him into a clinch for a round of selfies. 

"Eliza!" Henry took the phone back and tucked it into his pocket, looking around furtively. "There are no selfies at benefits."

"Says who?" Eliza said. She tugged at his lapel. "What did your mother say?"

"Just her flight information. And," Henry cleared his throat, "she wants you to have dinner with us."

"Really?" Eliza broke into a distracting grin. He forgot what they were talking about for a second. "Henry?"

"Yeah," Henry murmured, realizing he still had an arm around Eliza's waist. "She said she wants to meet my girlfriend."

She stilled, though she didn't break eye contact. "And?"

"And," Henry paused. "Can I call you my girlfriend?"

Eliza stared.

"Oh," Henry said. "My apologies, Eliza, I thought--"

She silenced him with a kiss, a mere brush against his lips. "It's not too soon," she said. "I think." She kissed him again, but when he pulled her closer, she broke away. "I'm pretty sure there's no kissing at benefits," she teased.

"Says who?" Henry retorted. Her eyes sparkled as he caught her back again.

**Author's Note:**

>   * Title and summary adapted from [Pygmalion to Galatea](https://www.poetryexplorer.net/poem.php?id=10063981) by Robert Graves. 
> 



End file.
